Prime Minister Narendra Modi will tomorrow launch the air regional connectivity scheme – ‘Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik’ (UDAN), from Shimla.
According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the Prime Minister will throw open the first flight under UDAN scheme by handing over the boarding pass to passengers at Shimla airport.
Simultaneously, the Prime Minister will also flag off the inaugural UDAN flights on Kadapa-Hyderabad and Nanded-Hyderabad sectors.
Under government’s subsidy-led UDAN flying scheme, that is intended to connect small towns by air, the fares start at Rs 2,000.
According to the Ministry, it is committed to providing air connectivity to currently underserved and unserved airports through the UDAN air connectivity scheme.
An under-served airport is defined as an airport which has no more than seven scheduled commercial flight departures per week, whereas an un-served airport or airstrip is the one which has not even received a single scheduled commercial service during the last two flight schedules.
National carrier Air India had yesterday said that it has opened bookings for the first launch flight from Shimla to Delhi with all inclusive fares starting at Rs 2,036. The airline cannot fly at full capacity on its 70-seater ATR airplane because of payload restrictions related to the short Shimla airfield.
